Security Council fails to pass car-bomb resolution

U.S., Russia blame each other for impasse in Syria

(Times of Israel) A resolution condemning multiple attacks in Damascus on Thursday failed to pass the UN Security Council, and left the US and Russia blaming each other for the impasse.

Russian diplomats said the US encourages terrorist attacks by its reluctance to pass the resolution. US and other Western diplomats wanted to include additional language in the text that condemned the Bashar Assad regime’s attacks on civilians. Russia refused.

At least 53 people were killed on Thursday when a car bomb exploded near Syria’s ruling Baath party headquarters in the capital. The bomb also caused damage to the nearby Russian Embassy. Elsewhere in the city, two other bombs struck intelligence offices, killing 22, and mortar rounds hit the army’s central command, activists said.